RIYADH, 3 January — The termination of a number of teachers from the Bangladesh International School (BIS-English Section) in the past six months, deteriorating academic standards, poor discipline and above all the alleged misappropriation of school funds have put a question mark on the fate of the students, a group of parents said yesterday.
Addressing a press conference, Dr. Mohammad Abdur Rahman, former chairman of BIS managing committee, alleged that many qualified teachers recruited by the previous committee have been sacked by the present committee making way for appointing friends and relatives. Not only in terms of recruitment, but on other fronts as well, the present committee led by Syed Ejaz Rasul has been violating the school charter, the parents charged.
When contacted by Arab News, Rasul declined to comment on the allegations raised against him and other committee members.
A parent said the committee had not responded to several verbal and written queries regarding the management of the school. The new BIS committee has not been calling general body meetings of the parents as per the school constitution, he added. The parents demanded the resignation of all committee members to make way for fresh elections.
Dr. Abdur Rahman said members of the present committee were nominated by the Ministry of Education after a number of potential contestants were disqualified.
The parents said that the committee has shown no accountability especially in terms of spending and budgeting. They noted that the misappropriation of the school funds are indicative from the fact that the new committee has spent SR40,000 alone on photocopying during the last six months.
The parents said the committee has failed in recruiting teachers from outside the Kingdom even though the school was issued 13 job visas to recruit teachers of different nationalities. A parent, Afsarul Alam, said that the higher grade students are now mainly dependent on private tuition because the BIS has no qualified teachers to hold classes.
On the budgetary front, the panel led by Rasul has presented a school budget showing a deficit of SR368,000. The parents claimed that the budget has not been prepared in a professional manner. They also said that the accounts of the school are not transparent as the BIS managing committee has always been reluctant to publicize the school accounts.
The parents feared that if the present committee is allowed to use school funds without any supervision, it will eventually make the school bankrupt.
